Ice, Mountains, Beauty And Christmas

I was traveling up to the farm on Christmas morning. As I began to drive through the Adirondacks, the roads were free of snow and the air was clear enough for some nice long distance views. Then, driving through the town of Keene, New York, I could see mountains covered with frost up ahead:

Once I was actually driving up in the mountains, I could see that the trees and the rocks were indeed frosted, covered with frozen humidity:

As I gained altitude, I saw more and more of the color white:

And then I passed through the valley of the Cascade chain of lakes. There, the winter weather is always worse:

By the time I arrived in Ray Brook, all the trees were frosted and even Smokey The Bear had a face full of snow as he wished me happy holidays:

As I passed through the Town of Brighton, I could see the surrounding mountains seemingly lighted by reflected ice. Notice the low flying clouds in the bottom right portion of the picture:

The very air was turning white and translucent as I traveled the high northern plains of the Adirondacks:

There was beauty all around on that quiet Christmas morning:

Daphne and Clover contentedly sat by my side while Seamus, Fergus, Wally and Winky rode in the back. We were having a happy Christmas:

Town Of Brighton, Pigs, Longhorns And Mountain Pond

Still on our journey to the farm, the dogs and I arrived at the Adirondack town of Brighton. I stopped at another favorite cemetery for a quick photo. But once again the dogs did not get out to run because there were other people there. No problem, we'd soon enough find another spot for a doggy potty break:

I suppose that some day these hay fields will be housing developments. I hope not, but it appears that the transformation is already beginning. Well, at least for now I can enjoy the wildness and scenery:

There is one farm in Brighton and on this day their pigs were out enjoying the sun. They grunted friendly greetings to me as I snapped their picture. Pigs can be marvelous animals. I once had a sow named Sweet Pea who was as tame and gentle as a dog. When she gave birth, she became so nervous and fearful that I sat beside her in the hay and stroked her head. Pigs can become very tame:

And this same farm had a small herd of Texas Longhorns which I've watched grow from calves into mamas with calves of their own. I used to worry that a Texas breed would have trouble in our cold winters, but apparently they do just fine:

And then I stopped at Mountain Pond to let the dogs out and we did indeed have the whole thing to ourselves. The dogs were overjoyed and no one else was around to be bothered as they explored everything:

From the lake up into the forest and then back again. And yes, that's an outhouse up ahead in this picture. I'd never noticed it there before:

Daphne ran down to the shoreline to give everything a good sniffing:

I posed for a picture with Mountain Pond in the background. Mountain Pond is less than an hour's drive from the farm so we were almost there. I'll post more tomorrow:

A Field Of Adirondack Wildflowers

This is the second in the series of posts from my trip up through the Adirondacks to visit the farm. I'll mix these posts with baby dove updates. We'd stopped along the Ausable River for a doggy rest stop and adventure. We'd stopped at the Cascade Lakes where I photographed the scenery and two rock climbers scaling a steep rock cliff. But then we arrived in Brighton, New York. This is one of my favorite scenic spots. This time, the hay fields were filled with brilliantly colored wildflowers of many varieties. It was all so lovely that I took many pictures. I'd intended to delete all but one or two, but just couldn't bear to hit the delete button. So I'll present them here as a series:

I believe those bright orange flowers are Hawkweeds. There were also Vetch, Daisies, Mustards and many more. I didn't go exploring because it was private property and because I had a car full of dogs, but I sure did snap some photos:

This is a broad, flat valley surrounded by Adirondack Mountains which in one direction are some of the highest peaks. The more gentle mountains in this direction sure look inviting:

This is actually someone's farm, though I imagine it's got to be extremely valuable land. Sadly, I saw a sign stating that it will be the future home of a housing development. I'm sure that lots of people would want to live where such views surround them, but it will be a sad thing for the rest of the people of New York when these fields are filled with expensive houses:

The big round hay bales are, I believe, several years old and have been left along the road for some unknown purpose. Whatever the intent, they sure add to the scenic value:

The wildflower population was both dense and beautiful. The old fashioned farm buildings could have been a scene from a valley in the Rocky Mountains or the prairies of Minnesota. Instead, this scenery is part of the Adirondack Park of New York:

More loveliness:

And I took one final shot before traveling on. The dogs sure would have loved to run through those grasses and wildflowers, but we had our own fields to explore when we arrived at the farm: